The Bite
by Gumnut
Summary: "I need my big brother, not his sacrifice." Episode Tag set during 'Recharge'. Spoilers for 'Recharge' and vaguely Season 3.


Title: The Bite

Author: Gumnut

7 – 9 Nov 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: "I need my big brother, not his sacrifice."

Word count: 1953

Spoilers & warnings: Angst. Spoilers for 'Recharge' & Season 3

Timeline: Episode Tag set during 'Recharge'

Author's note: For sofasurf who asked for a little Virgil comforting Scott. Fluffember 2019 Prompt #7 Comfort.

Many thanks to vegetacide and scribbles97 for putting up with my crazy.

Disclaimer: Mine? You've got to be kidding. Money? Don't have any, don't bother.

-o-o-o-

It was the whimper that woke him.

The tent was warm, the heat cube doing a thorough job at staving off the ice cold of outside. The insulated material of the tent itself still rippled with the gust of arctic winds, the muted roar a continual background to everything.

But despite the winds, that soft whimper reached out in the dim light, wrapped around his heart and yanked.

Virgil sat up, the fog of sleep falling from him so abruptly it was dizzying. His brain came online throwing data at him - where he was, events up to now...who he was...

The aurora generator, Max, the Arctic...

Scott.

There was another whimper and Virgil shot to his feet, stumbling towards the sleeping form of his brother on the other side of the tent.

They had dozed while waiting, never willing to give up the opportunity to grab sleep when they could. Max ready to alert them the moment the way was clear.

His brother lay on his rack on his back, his expression one of anguish.

The sight hurt.

Virgil knew Scott had been struggling of late. The signs were all there. The recklessness, the urge to do and do and do. It tore at him, but Virgil was at a loss as to how to help.

He had tried everything he knew already and Scott continued to shrug him off, ignore his advice, his nudges. There had been moments where Virgil had thought he was going to lose his brother in the last year and he was fumbling to find a way to save him.

Save his brother.

The irony was painful.

Scott was a light sleeper. The man bounced from deep sleep to awake at the smallest nudge. The fact he was still caught in the nightmare despite Virgil's movements was telling.

"Dad." It was a recognisable whimper and Virgil couldn't help but reach out.

A brush against his hair. Whispered. "Scott."

His brother started, his eyes shooting open as he gasped awake. A frantic moment as they latched onto Virgil like a lifeline.

Hi hand continued to cradle his brother's hair. "Hey."

To Virgil's astonishment, Scott blinked away tears as he obviously scrambled to compose himself. "Uh, Virgil."

There were no words for a moment as the man threw himself into a seated position, rubbing his hands over his face.

Virgil fell back on his heels, giving his brother a moment to pull himself together.

"Want to talk about it?" Tentative and quiet.

"Not really."

Silence and awkwardness for a moment.

"You mentioned Dad."

Blue eyes shot at him and just for a moment there was a vulnerability there that shook Virgil to his core.

"Don't want to talk about it." To Virgil's horror, Scott's voice was shaking.

"Scott-"

"No, Virgil."

"But-"

"No!"

Virgil's lips thinned.

Scott turned away, running his hands through his hair. "Sorry, I just can't."

"Why not?"

"Please, just...don't."

The hand rubbing his face was unsteady.

If Virgil was honest with himself, seeing Scott like this scared him. Scott was his big brother, always strong, always there. He certainly wasn't infallible, and there had been times in the past...they always left Virgil uncertain. He was ashamed to admit that he relied on Scott to be the strong one when things were falling apart.

If Scott was breaking under the pressure...

He swallowed and squared his shoulders. "You need some downtime."

Scott spun to look at him. "What?"

"If you won't talk about it, you need some time off to work things out."

He shook his head. "No. No. Not possible."

"It is." Virgil sat on the floor staring up at his brother. "It won't all collapse without you. We can manage."

"Yeah, right."

That caused an arched eyebrow, but to be honest, it wasn't unexpected. "I'm glad you have so much confidence in me and our brothers."

Blue eyes, stressed and obviously in pain stared at him.

"Talk to me, Scott." It was a plea. "I don't bite."

"Not according to Gordon."

He rolled his eyes. "He bit me first and you are not distracting me. Talk to me or I'll ground you on medical grounds and you can talk to someone else."

That got him. Scott straightened where he sat, anger flaring. "You can't do that!"

"Just try me." His lips thinned and he rammed his point home by staring his brother down.

Okay, proof that Scott wasn't firing on all thrusters as Virgil won the staring contest, Scott's eyes darting off to the left.

Soft. "I can't."

"You can." The barest of smiles. "You're my big brother, you can do anything."

It was a gamble playing that card. It could trigger more stress at the reference to Scott's position in the family or it could work as intended and bring back the memory of the first time Virgil had uttered those words.

He had only been around eight at the time and well and truly deep in hero worship of his big brother. Truth be told, he had never really lost that worship. It had changed over the years into more of a respect, but there was still that ingrained opinion that Scott was capable of doing so much.

At the time, it was a case of trying to get Gordon's ball out of a tree. The two of them had been staring up at the ancient oak while Gordon screamed his preschool heart out at their feet. No adult was available and Virgil was too short to reach the lowest limb.

Scott wasn't.

But they had been forbidden from climbing the tree with a threat of dire consequences.

But they had to get that ball. It was brand new, brought home from Dad's latest business trip.

"You can do it, Scott. I'll help you."

The whole incident summed up their entire relationship. Scott leading, Virgil helping to make it happen.

"I'm not ten anymore, Virgil."

"But you are still my big brother." He reached up and placed his hands on Scott's bowed shoulders. "You will always be our big brother. You don't have to prove it by working yourself into the ground." A pause. "Or by trying to kill yourself in the process."

"I can't..."

And there is was. A glimpse of truth.

Pushed away by stubbornness.

"I do what I have to do."

Virgil's hands tightened on his brother's shoulders. "Then you will force me to do what I have to do, and ground you."

"Virgil-"

"No! You listen to me. What happened to Dad wasn't your fault! You've done everything humanly possible to find him, to carry his legacy, to keep us all afloat. But goddamnit, Scott, I won't lose you like I lost Dad. I can't do it!" His brother flinched, but Virgil had to push on. "I'm watching you fade away, day by day. And then you throw these stunts that terrify me. Do you have any idea how many times I've saved you over the last year? How many times seconds have counted? The uranium mine, Scott. You'd be dead. So fucking dead and then where would we be?!"

The tension in Virgil's shoulders threatened to travel down his arms and just throttle his brother into understanding. "I'm not you, Scott. I can't do this without you. And I can't bear the thought..." He swallowed, taking control of himself. "If not for yourself in the short term, then do it for us. Take some time! And we can work out what you want for the long term. But please, please...just stop."

Virgil found his heart thudding in his chest, his breath rasping with the urgency to get Scott to realise exactly what was at stake here. It was the expression in his brother's eyes, wide and staring, a little fear in their depths, that shook the anger from him. There was a moment of pain, everything hanging in the air surrounding them like some life-sucking miasma, and Virgil grabbed his brother, yanking him into a desperate embrace.

It was a cling and he wasn't sure if it was for himself or to reassure Scott, but either way, it was sorely needed.

Scott's arms hesitated, but eventually wrapped around Virgil's back, fingernails scratching against uniform fabric.

Uniform. Virgil's eyes closed as his grip tightened and his head fell to Scott's shoulder.

"Virg-"

"You're more important."

"I-"

"Please, Scott."

His brother didn't answer immediately, shifting in Virgil's grip before gently tugging away.

Virgil let him go.

Scott wouldn't look at him.

It was frightening to see his big brother like this.

"I...I think it is kind of ironic." Scott's voice was quiet.

A frown. "What?"

"That we are both afraid of the same thing."

Virgil stared at him, no words, waiting.

His brother swallowed as if steeling himself before catching Virgil's eyes. "I can get there first. If I can do what has to be done, I...you and the others don't have to." Blue eyes bled honesty and not a little fear, but Scott let out a desperate little laugh looking away. "I can't lose you either."

"God, Scott." Virgil resisted the urge to grab and hug his brother again, instead resorting to grabbing his hand. "We are stronger together."

Something broke and Scott's face screwed up. "Virg, you weren't there. He was..." Fingers were ripped out of Virgil's grip and Scott buried his face in his hands. "He was just gone. I can't..."

Virgil reached up and gently pulled those hands away. Scott's face was strained and red where his hands had been jammed against his cheeks.

His eyes shone.

Words caught in Virgil's throat. What could he say? That he and his brothers weren't going to die? That everything was going to be all right?

He would be lying.

He couldn't promise anything...any more than Scott could in kind.

"We could shut down International Rescue." But the words hurt and Scott immediately tensed up.

"No. We do this for Dad. For Mom. For everyone who needs saving." Simply saying the words put the spark back into his brother's eyes. It was a mantra, a core philosophy, a reason why they did what they did.

"Then we do it together. We watch each other, protect each other and save each other. We do it together, Scott, and keep each other safe." A swallow. "I need my big brother, not his sacrifice."

Scott stared at him. One hand slipped from Virgil's grip and reached for the side of his face. Gloved fingers brushed across his cheek bone, tangling in his hair.

Whispered. "Okay."

The barest of smiles flickered across Virgil's lips. "Thank you."

And he was being pulled into a hug, Scott dragging him close. Virgil's arms wrapped around his brother and for a long moment they simply held each other.

There was a tightness in his chest and Virgil had to blink several times to clear his vision.

Maybe this had worked. Maybe Scott would take the steps toward not risking his life so often. Please, God, keep him safe.

A particularly strong gust of wind shook the tent and broke the moment, the insulated material banging against the metal frame.

Scott pulled away and Virgil let him go, falling back onto his heels once again before creaking to his feet. Neither spoke as Virgil made his way back to his bunk. The whole conversation had been exhausting.

"Virgil?"

He turned back to his brother. Scott was still sitting on the edge of his bed. "You were wrong."

What? God no.

"You do bite. You sink your teeth in and hang on until you get what you want." Scott's expression was solemn. "Thank you."

Virgil smiled a little sadly at him. "I do what I have to do."

-o-o-o-


End file.
